A History of UCSF

People

Guy S. Millberry was born November 3, 1872 in Menominee, Michigan. He entered the Dental College of the University of California in autumn of 1898 and graduated in 1901, supporting himself with day labor and building jobs. From the beginning, he was known for his good humor, “a twinkle in his eye” and his “keen interest in people.” Initially he set up in private practice in San Francisco, but within two years he returned to the University to take the post of laboratory assistant in chemistry and metallurgy. At this time of rapid expansion of the field of mechanical and prosthetic dentistry, many new techniques and materials were being introduced, and the subjects of chemistry and metallurgy were organized into a single instructional department, providing courses for all three years of dental curriculum.

When all the clinical work of the College of Dentistry was transferred to the Parnassus campus after the 1906 earthquake and fire, Guy Millberry came to the University fulltime as Superintendent of the Infirmary and acting Professor of Chemistry and Metallurgy. By 1910 he was promoted to Professor of Chemistry and Metallurgy, and by 1914 was named Dean of Dentistry, serving for an unprecedented twenty-five year term. He was very interested in expanding public health with respect to dentistry, and one his signature achievements was the founding of one of the nation’s first programs in Dental Hygiene at UC. He was also instrumental in developing research as an integral part of the College of Dentistry. In the 1920s he secured research funding from the American Dental Association and the Carnegie Corporation, and matching funds from the UC Regents for a stomatological research group that conducted research on dental infections in collaboration with the warden of San Quentin. This program was praised in 1922 as “the most comprehensive investigation now in progress in dentistry.”

As dean during the Great Depression, Guy Millberry acted as “part contractor, part builder and part architect” in the process of building the Clinics Building in the 1930s, and he made sure that dentistry was given prime space in the new facility. When the Dental Students Association built the first cafeteria and bookstore, friends remembered that “Guy was in there with hammer and nails and drawings and estimates and so on….he had a tremendous amount of enthusiasm.”

Dr. Millberry’s professional activities extended to membership and service in the American Public Health Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the California Academy of Sciences, the American Dental Association, and a number of dental honor societies. He published numerous papers on dental education and public health and was an editor of the textbook, Dental Metallurgy. Upon his retirement from the deanship, Guy Millberry was made Professor of Dental Health Education, and he retired fully in 1940 as emeritus professor. He died in 1952, unfortunately too soon to witness the erection of the modern Millberry Student Union on Parnassus, which was named in his honor.